Boston releases Liquid server

Will match a liquid lunch

Server company Boston has told the world and its dog that it is selling its patented server with total liquid submersion technology in the UK.

The LSS 200 is a server which keeps itself cool by being totally submerged in liquid, a bit like a TechEye Christmas party. According to Boston, dunking your server in water reduces power consumption and costs, maximises floor space and decreases a data centre's carbon footprint.

Of course, it's not your normal liquid we are talking about here. Sticking a server in a tank of water is a bit like throwing a heater into the bath. The LSS 200 is submerged in a dielectric liquid, Core Coolant, that has 1350 times greater heat removal capacity than air.

This removes the need for expensive air conditioning and air moving equipment. Boston claims that LSS can reduce energy costs of cooling by 80 percent or more, resulting in an overall cost savings potential of 40 percent on your average datacentre, the company claims.

A fully tanked up server, it's claimed, is a bit more reliable than one which abstains, which is similar to most technology hacks, really. Chad Attlesey, President, Chief Technology Officer, and Founder of Hardcore Computer which makes the beasts says that there is a direct correlation with server power and performance. Traditional cooling options have proven too expensive and have a limited efficiency.

Data centres are continually battling with escalating power consumption and associated costs. He claimed that "total liquid submersion cooling technology in the LSS 200 is the most effective solution on the market."

The technology was recently evaluated by Citihub and TIBCO which provide gear to the City, which we have noted is always interested in liquid refreshment.

A test found that using a total liquid submersion-cooled Hardcore Computer system, in conjunction with TIBCO FTL, delivered a 34 percent improvement over previously published benchmarks for inter-process communications, with a latency of 237 nanoseconds at 4.2 million messages per second. Apparently.

Donovan Ransome, head of e-trading and market data of Citihub said his outfit had been improving and tuning milliseconds and microseconds from electronic trading applications for over a decade, so this is a big improvement.